Wounds
by dolefuI
Summary: Four years. He was gone for four years and then he's suddenly back - asking if everything could go back to normal like it used to be. Mai Taniyama knew better - she knew that nothing could ever be the same since he left. Nothing could be fixed. They were all wounded.


**Hello everyone - this will be my first fanfiction on this website, so I do hope you'll enjoy it. I don't know how much I'll get into it, or whether it will get any reads because this fandom only has a few avid readers still from what I've seen.**

 **Please beware though - this fanfiction WILL contain; sexual harassment, abuse, swearing, depression/suicide, gore - please read at your own risk.**

* * *

It was quiet.

The only sound being made was the very soft noise of someone breathing and the slight rustle of movement as they shifted around as they slept.

Suddenly, a scream rippled through the air, the person that had previously been sleeping previously sitting up as they screamed, clutching their blanket to their chest tightly. They tried to calm their breathing that had picked up, brown eyes wide as they glanced around the room. They slowly turned on their bed, putting their feet on the ground as they slowly made their way to the bathroom, a small limp in their step.

Upon closer inspection, it was noticeable that a brace adorned their foot, obviously there to prevent an injury from worsening.

With a flick of a wrist, they turned the bathroom light on and jumped slightly when they saw their reflection in the mirror, eyes narrowing at the already bruising cheek. She chuckled lightly, glancing back st the clock in her room.

6:04 am.

"I guess I can start getting ready for work now.." She mumbled, shuffling into the bathroom and to her sink. She quickly brushed her teeth before splashing her face with water - instantly starting to feel refreshed. She once more tilted her head to get a better look at her face, frowning st the purple color forming on her cheek from the bruising taking place before letting out a sigh as she grabbed her makeup bag.

"Can't have anyone asking questions..." she mumbled as she started applying her makeup, watching as the bruise slowly disappeared under the foundation.

Once she was finished, she stared once more at her reflection in the mirror before moving out into her bedroom to get changed. She had clients coming today at work - she needed to be prepared and ready to be professional.

She glanced at the clock, she'd be early but it would be best to be early anyway. She quickly limped into her kitchen as she grabbed a bottle of water and a granola bar before making her way out the day while grabbing her purse.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she looked through her messages, smiling slightly when she saw some from old friends telling her about their new cases. She was proud of them - they were all so big and slowly rising up throughout the world.

Then there she was.

She had started up taking care of her old bosses' place after he had left, even becoming the one who was placed in charge. She was proud of herself for being able to get this far, though she was still struggling with allowing her team to take on larger cases... after what had happened last time... she knew they couldn't handle it.

She went to unlock the door but stiffened slightly when she found it already unlocked, the girl looking inside before making her way up the steps slowly. She opened the door at the top of the stairs, eyes sweeping across the room before they landed on a single person sitting on one of the couches.

"N-naru?" She whispered, eyes widening before she placed her purse on a hook hanging beside the door. She heard someone cough as they emerged from the kitchen, eyes once more widening as they took site of Lin.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" She finally asked, her face turning serious as her eyes narrowed on the two of them. Lin had placed three cups of tea on the coffee table, the man sitting down next to Naru.

"I've decided to come back, Mai."

Mai frowned, sitting down on the opposite couch as she tried to find the words to describe how she felt at that moment. "It's been four years Naru. You can't just up and come back."

"I can if my parents tell me to. While you're the boss here, this is still a company run by my parents Mai."

Mai could hear the smirk in his voice as he spoke and the girl wanted to just wipe it out of his voice.

"Whatever," She mumbled, taking a sip of her tea before the door to the office opened and she could feel the eyes of three people on the back of her skull.

"Big boss!" Yasuhara hurried over, a smile wide on his face as he slapped Naru on the back a few times. "It's amazing to see ya again!"

"Ah... " She heard the next soft voice state, Mai glancing over her head and sending a smile to the youngest person in the room at that moment. Her name was Hanayo Watoshi, a 17 year old highschooler who simply loved the paranormal.

Mai's eyes glanced over Hanayo's shoulder to the next person, Daichi Hirogashi, a 20 year old college student who was trying to pay his way through college.

"I see you've hired other people to do your job for you, typical." Naru said before he got up, making his way over to where his old office was.

Mai stood up, stopping him. "This is my office now."

Naru seemed to frown at her, eyes staring down at her as if he dared her to continue. "My office now, Naru. Yasu has Lin's old office. Your office, as well as Lin's will be downstairs." She said, eyes narrowing as if taunting him.

Naru sighed before changing his direction, looking at Lin as the older man stood up before he looked over his shoulder, a taunting smirk playing on his lips.

"Oh, by the way, we have a case."

* * *

Mai sighed, letting her face slide down onto her desk as she tried to read the case file that Naru had handed to her. She wasn't prepared for this - this was a case on a larger scale and her team hadn't done one of these since they had first started working together. That was when... the accident had happened and Mai couldn't bear for something like that to happen once more.

She jumped up when she heard a knock on her door, eyes sliding over as Daichi entered the room. Mai instantly felt her body tense up naturally, the boy giving her a sickly sweet smile.

"So, your old boss is back and trying to act all buddy buddy, eh?" He said, his voice lower then he would normally make it.

"He's back, whether I like it or not, Daichi. No changing it now." Mai mumbled, eyes shifting back to the case file in her hands. She jumped, the case file slipping out of her hands as Daichi slammed his fist down on the desk.

"Look at me when I'm fucking talking to you, Mai."

Mai slowly raised her eyes to meet his, feeling a ball form in her throat as she struggled to keep eye contact.

"You will stay away from him as much as possible. I know how guys like him work - if I even so much as catch you two alone together, I will fucking hurt you, do you understand me?"

Mai could only feel herself nod, tears pricking the corners of her eyes as Daichi reached his hand over the desk, cupping Mai's chin as he forced her to look at him as he gave her that same sickly sweet smile he always did. "Good girl."

As quick as the touch was, he quickly let her go, walking out of the room without so much as a single glance in her direction once more.

Mai sat silently for a few moments, collecting herself before she went to move back to reading the case file, jumping when she heard the door open once more but smiled slightly when she saw Hanayo standing there with a cup of tea.

"Taniyama... I brought you.. some tea," The girl mumbled, shutting the door behind her before going to bring the teacup over to Mai.

"Thank you, Hanayo." Mai said, smiling in gratitude as she took a sip of the tea. It was calming, a feeling she seemed to be needing more often then not.

"Why... Why do you deal with that Taniyama?" Hanayo asked, her child-like eyes watching Mai's every move. "You... You have the opportunities to fire him but yet.. you just take it all in."

Mai gave a sad smile, looking Hanayo in the face. She was so innocent - pure even - so much that Mai felt like she had every need to just protect the younger girl.

"Love makes you do strange things."

* * *

Hanayo gave a small sigh as she shut Mai's door behind her after she left the older woman's office and made her way over to her desk in her own small corner. She was to contact their client, requesting three rooms as well as for them to contact their electrical provider to let them know of an increase in power.

The 17 year old rubbed her face in her hands, her eyes catching those of Yasu's across the room and sh gave him a soft smile. Hanayo felt her phone vibrate in her sweater pocket, the girl bringing it out as she felt her heart pick up from the message that was flashing across her screen. It was from Daichi - one that she felt she should have shown Mai but Hanayo could never bring herself too. She knew how much it would hurt the older female.

She simply decided to ignore the message, instead beginning to type away on her laptop. She'd call the client in a few moments - though right now... she wanted to find out more about this "Naru" person.

After about five minutes, she let out a groan of frustration, having found basically nothing about this guy who just randomly showed up today and would apparently be working with them. Hanayo heard a chuckle come from where Yasu was sitting on the couch, her eyes glancing over to the male, her cheeks puffed out.

"You're trying to find stuff out about big boss, right?"

Hanayo could only bring herself to nod in response, too embarrassed too actually admit to it.

"You won't find anything online. He's very strict about making sure there's no news coverage." Yasu gave another low chuckle, shifting his position to look Hanayo in the eyes clearly. "He's essentially a mystery,"

Hanayo gave a pout, leaning her chin on one hand. "That's no fair!"

"Life's not fair."

Both Yasu and Hanayo jumped at the sound of a new voice, the teenage girl turning bright red when her eyes landed on Naru who was standing in the doorway. She quickly put her head down, going back to typing on her laptop to avoid any type of conversation.

* * *

Mai said, stretching her back as she put the last box down on a table. She hadn't done this in a few months now, having to take a whole van full of equipment to their location. She knew that Naru was questioning her ability to carry things because of her limp, as he had made sure that she carried barely any boxes as well as some of the lightest ones.

Mai glanced at the others once they had walked in the room, Hanayo and Yasu had just finished setting up the camera's and microphone's on the second floor as well the attic. Daichi and Lin had done the first floor, including the basement.

"Alright guys... according to the client, they experience the usual here. Rattling windows, things moving on their own, the sounds of children laughing and crying, basically anything you'd see in a horror movie, got it?" She gave a nervous laughter at the end of her sentence, her eyes shifting over to Hanayo. She knew the girl was just as nervous as she was, the other case had been like this.

"We'll be fine."

 _We will be fine._


End file.
